RUDDY BONUS

SATURDAY’S Barclays Premier League draw against Reading at the Madejski Stadium was a particularly pleasing one for City and England goalkeeper John Ruddy.

The 0-0 result not only gave Chris Hughton’s side a first away clean sheet in the top-flight since October 2004, but also benefited those at Help for Heroes – the charity to which Ruddy donates all his clean sheet bonuses.

With the 26-year-old due to fly out with England for a friendly against Sweden this week, the ‘keeper – who has close ties with the forces, was happy to pick up his fourth shut out of the campaign and help a cause close to his heart.

He told Canaries Player: “I think we’ve beaten last year’s clean sheet total already, so that’s a bonus in itself.

“Anything we can get on top of that along the way will be fantastic so I look forward to seeing what the total is at the end of the season.

“I think it’s very, very important for people to remember the sacrifices made by people to make sure we have the life we have now.

“At the football ground the silence was impeccably observed as I’m sure it was around the county. It’s no more than the people who put their lives on the line deserve.”

The former Everton stopper – who won his first England cap in a victory over Italy earlier this season, saw plenty of positives to take from the performance and result, which maintains the five point gap between City and 18th-placed Reading.

He added: “It’s a clean sheet away from home and I have been informed it’s the first since 2004, so that’s a nice memento to take from it, and it’s another point on the road to where we want to be.

“The aim is to stay in the Premier League, and as long as you’re picking up points then you have a chance to do that.

“As far as clean sheets go, we’ve got four this season and if you keep clean sheets then you’re going to win more games than you lose.

“I think that it was something that the Manager wanted to change straight away when he came in. I think you saw in the first six or seven games that it took a while to get used to that. But like I said we’ve got four clean sheets now, and we had three in the whole of last season.”

With a tricky trip to Sweden with Roy Hodgson’s England to contend with, the in-form ‘keeper was hopeful of winning another cap, but as always, proud to be given the chance to be with the Three Lions.

“I don’t know if I’ll get any game time,” said Ruddy. “I’d like to think I’d be in contention, but it’s just an honour for me to be able to go away with England and represent my country if given the chance.

“It’s something I’m looking forward to, working with the players and management there is exceptional. Dave Watson (City’s goalkeeping coach) is there, so on a day-to-day training basis it’s not much different to what I do at Colney.

“It’s going to be a tough week, but it’s where you want to be – at the top level doing this. If I can go away, hopefully get some game time for England, and then put on a performance against Manchester United for Norwich then I’ll be absolutely delighted.”

To watch the full interview with John Ruddy on Canaries Player, click here.